Well crap I was writing a reply and I deleted it! Ok so here is the repeat!
So I managed to survive the first day back at work, so I'm taking a little time to recap the weekend. This year as always the Alumni Academy was a wonderful experience. I was so excited about getting to see my good friends Jason, Vincent, Chris, Mike, and Jeramy again. More over as soon as we all said hello's it was back to all the fun times that we had last year, just like we had seen each other yesterday and not a year ago. Overall, I was so glad that I returned even despite the high price it took to return.
Day One: We all arrived around noon and started checking in. Hab1 was business as usual, with kids running around and doors slamming over head. After, briefly catching up with all my new and old friends, we all went to the cafeteria for lunch with Story Musgrave. To say the least the speach was "interesting" in about a million ways. Anyone that knows a little about Story will understand, but other than his slight eccentricities, it was neat to hear his story and point of view. After lunch we milled around the center, took group photos, and compared the picture of how things at the center were last year in our minds with all the new changes we saw. Next on the schedule was our introduction to the new Davidson center. As we walked to the beautifully landscaped building I couldn't help but be impressed with how well the new facility was done. The new building was really magnificent, and talk about massive! As we walked inside, we stood in line to enter the theatre to see the new 3d movies that play there. It was at this time that the first milestone occurred in the weekend: Jeramy bought the new team mascot, the infamous Space Camp Barbie (new and improved)! So at that time, team Columbia's roster was complete. So moving on, we saw the 3-d movie. After the movie was finished we walked out of the theatre and as soon as you exited through the double doors, you were floored by the massive expanse of the main hall and a perfect condition Saturn V S-1C stage. The place was so awe inspiring one of my new friends Melissa had to come grab me because I was wondering around aimlessly while Jeramy was trying to tell us when to meet her next. So we looked around for a short while and then we were all off back to the Hab to change into proper clothes for the Apollo Saturn reunion being held that night. When we returned, we were again greeted by a Saturn V and BBQ that we had already eaten for lunch. That night we ate with the company of many people that worked on the actual Apollo program, and while the ceremonies were not Earth shattering, it was a unique dinner. After all, I was eating with my good new and old friends, making jokes/having a great time, and still gawking at all the artifacts as well as the rocket whose S-IVB stage was suspended in the air about 20 foot about the table we were eating at. Lastly, after all the ceremonies were over we returned to the Hab to plan our "End of the Day's Activities". Wink Wink. Needless to say a good time was passed... Did I mention how awesome the Davidson center was and how much fun I was having???
Day Two: Well after a short sleep we all managed to get up, shower, and return to the cafeteria for the best tasting meal of the day; breakfast. Next up was the Omnimax movie "Fighter Pilot", and then to start training for our missions aboard Enterprise. The orbiter sim was particularly special for me because every since the first time I was at the USSRC i wanted to have a mission in Enterprise as it is a full mock-up. Now I actually had the chance to play around pretty much all I wanted in it and all the other sims. Better yet I was a mission specialist and got to play with all the toys in the payload bay! Most of the day was taken up with the two missions even though they were actually only about an hour long. And even though most of us were really craving a super complex EDM, all of the team was having so much fun being together we really didn't care. After the missions were complete we once again donned our dinner attire for the Hall of Fame dinner held that night. I was particularly excited to have the preveledge of having my friend Vincent being inducted into the hall of fame. I was very happy to honor him that night with congratulations, as he and the Hab1 site were so very influential in getting me back to Huntsville after 10 years, as well as since he was a good friend and an all around stand up fellow.
On top of that, the dinner itself and the keynote speakers were very entertaining. Most importantly the new inductees were all very deserving of the award and it was neat getting to hear their truly incredible stories and insights. All in all it was a memorable night that I'll look back on for a long time.
Day Three:
The last morning in Hunstville was short and sweet it seemed. Most of the morning included the team goofing around playing Space bowl or riding the training sims. Additionally, we saw my favorite omnimax film "The Dream is Alive" which is always makes me happy since it always brings back memories Space Dome full of campers joking around at night as we waited for the movie to start. And even though the morning wasn't particularly excited, I felt fulfilled since I made sure to take full advantage of the free reign that the alum had over the place. Of course another few days would have been great, since it always seems like you can never make enough time in Huntsville. Unfortunately, the time came to "be graduated" and not only did we have to "get graduated" but we had to sit in the cramped Challenger Auditorium to do it. So, the end came quick and we all had to say good byes, but I wasn't to sad because ole Hab1 is a pretty good substitute to actually being there.
Are you done yet???:
Ok this is getting a little long and personally the word BLOG is worse to me than the F-word. But in my defense, every time I get a chance to go back to Huntsville I always have a great time and it the fun always seems to get better. I think it has a lot to do with the collections of friends that I have amassed there and the fact that the USSRC seems to always be adding great things to their arsenal. I was so surprised to return and see the new Davidson building was way over what my expectations were, even after I had seen it being built. It made me proud that the new building was above and beyond what could have been done in the name of the budget. So hopefully, all my Columbia buddies will post up some cool stuff in the next few days, and for those "Alumni Camp-Alumni" I hope you can share in the fun we all had this weekend by reading our posts.
So enough with all this pansy talk, thanks to all my Alumni buddies!
